Short takes on current issues & events from Paul Mattessich,
executive director of Wilder Research.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Will Robot Day Replace Labor Day?

“A new wave of robots, far more adept than those now
commonly used by automakers and other heavy manufacturers, are replacing
workers around the world...”

We can’t glibly dismiss this statement in a recent New York Times article as science fiction, or bury our heads in the sand and
pretend that these robots won’t come to our town. Increasingly, robots have
begun to perform tasks that we have always assumed humans must perform. One
scientist: ‘We’re on the cusp of completely changing manufacturing and
distribution. I think it’s not as singular an event, but it will ultimately
have as big an impact as the Internet.”

If we have concerns about the future quality of life in our
communities, and specifically about poverty and its consequences, should we
fear the robots?

Poverty lies at the root of many of the challenges we face
in our communities across the nation; it also results in many of the problems
that we end up trying to alleviate through our health care, human service, and
education systems, or in some cases, that we must deal with through our
corrections system. For some people, poverty derives from their individual
behavior, attitudes, or circumstances: lack of literacy; a poor work ethic; a
too-early pregnancy; etc. However, for others, poverty stems from social or
structural causes: racism as a barrier to success or lack of economic activity
in a community, for example.

Will robots change the structure of work in a way that pushes
more people below the poverty line, or at least closer to it?

So far, evidence suggests that robots’ “encroachment into
human skills” has both positive and negative effects. Some types of jobs do
increase. In certain cases, the productivity of robots requires that companies
find more workers, to oversee the increased workflow and to accomplish the
increased amount of work necessary to support the increased productivity.
However, the need for workers with certain skills has plummeted in some
industries.

The net result in the long term – more jobs or fewer –
remains to be seen.

The robots will certainly take over a lot of labor
territory. They cost less, run more efficiently, and have higher productivity
than humans for an increasing number of tasks. Market forces will push them
into the factories of the future. Robot manufacturers can demonstrate
convincing cost-benefit analyses. Union opposition might moderate, but cannot
mitigate, the extent to which jobs for human beings will decrease.

All of us who want to promote prosperity, reduce social and
economic disparities, and improve the quality of life for everyone in our
communities need to consider this latest wave of automation as we develop
strategies for economic development. We need to convert this potential threat
to a potential tool – with innovative thinking to create industries which both
use modern means of automation and create more jobs for human beings.

I hope you enjoy your Labor Day weekend, but I also hope
that you reflect seriously on the future that we want to create for our
workforce.